As Mexico City has risen to the top of international travelers’ wish lists, so too have the prices. Legacy luxury hotel brands fill gleaming tower floors along the Paseo de la Reforma, the city’s broad central avenue, and in en vogue neighborhoods like Polanco and Condesa, One- and Two-MICHELIN Key properties offer lush accommodations.
But this is also a city known for its hidden gems – its hole in the walls and street market finds – that prove you don’t need to spend much to tap the Mexican essence. From an eye-popping bed and breakfast to a modernist landmark, here are some of the best affordable hotels in Mexico City from The MICHELIN Guide’s selection.
Hotel San Fernando (One MICHELIN Key)
Hotel San Fernando made our round-up of the best architecture hotels in Mexico City earlier this year for its unmissable Art Deco style. It’s on this list because it’s priced as a great deal with rooms starting at around $140 a night. When you factor in its supremely central location on the leafy edge of Parque México in Condesa and its cozy, colorful rooms, it makes for an all-around package.
Inspector Notes: The rooms are chic in hues of coral and white, with living plants for atmosphere, and their low-key comforts include subtle luxuries like Kassatex linens and custom Bunkhouse robes.
Hotel Casa Cuenca
A few blocks away, in a quieter part of Condesa, Hotel Casa Cuenca offers a window into the life of this neighborhood’s cool kid set. The 10-room boutique, set in an elegant 1930s property, is understated and sharp, lined with linen and lovely tile and latticed brick motifs. Rooms start at around $200 a night.
Inspector Notes: The interiors pay homage to modernist Mexican design with custom built-in furnishings, handmade tiles, colorful woven rugs, and original artwork. Some rooms have private terraces and tubs, and the sun-drenched Presidencial suite features a chic living room and large windows overlooking the pretty patio below.
Santa Casa
Period touches like high arched windows and spiral columns are a reminder of this restored 1930s mansion’s origins in a regal Mexico City neighborhood: a duchess fond of soirées once lived in the property. Today, Santa Casa is a well-placed base to explore Roma Norte, a lively central zone with the city’s buzziest restaurants. Smart, low-frills rooms with terracotta tile floors start at about $100 a night.
Inspector Notes: An elegant wrought-iron staircase leads to rooms and suites with carved wooden doors and high ceilings. All are decorated in a color palette of bright white, pistachio green, and burnt ocher, and some have separate living rooms and bathtubs.
Ignacia Guest House (One MICHELIN Key)
This five-room Roma Norte property is extremely eye-catching: rooms are padded with plush furnishings and geometric carpentry in bright candy colors. But its One-MICHELIN-Key rating signals it’s no Instagram bait; this is celebrated interior design. Rooms start, surprisingly, at around $218 and include breakfast served in the garden.
Inspector Notes: Set in the upscale Colonia Roma, the mansion that’s stood on this site since 1913 was already impressive enough. Now, thanks to an ultra-modern expansion by architect Fermín Espinosa and designer Andrés Gutiérrez, it’s the kind of house that gets written about in architecture magazines
Hotel Habita
Hotel Habita is considered Mexico City’s first design hotel, opened in 2000 by Grupo Habita, a pioneer of the global boutique hotel trend. The 36-room property is a cube of frosted glass, with a lively terrace and an enviable location on the main drag of well-heeled Polanco. Interiors are minimalist, with sleek, spartan furnishings with rooms starting at around $200 a night.
Inspector Notes: Archi-tourists will be charmed, while traditionalists may ask when the construction is scheduled to finish—in any case, it’s a radical departure from the stately residential buildings of the upscale Polanco neighborhood.
Umbral, Curio Collection
For a good payout for your peso in Mexico City’s historic center, consider the Umbral hotel, a member of Hilton’s Curio Collection. The upscale property comes with all the ease of a favorite global chain and amenities like a gym and rooftop pool, just steps from some of this city’s most important sites. Rooms start at around $132 a night.
Inspector Notes: Inside it’s both stylish and warm, its clean lines softened by rich colors and impressive contemporary artworks. There’s an art gallery on site, as well as a vinyl library, an outdoor swimming pool, and multiple restaurants.
Hero image: Santa Casa
